Bankrupt and suffering from painful throat cancer, Grant turned to writing about the Civil War as a means to provide an income for his family. As he grew weaker he heroically completed his Memoirs. Poignant photographs like this one show the general diligently focused on his task. Grant finished only days before he died. In his reassessment of his military career, Grant had produced an American literary masterpiece. His friend Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) judged the Memoirs "the most remarkable work of its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar." Refreshingly honest, clear, and fluidly written, the book was soon in demand in both the North and South. Sales of 250,000 copies were quickly realized, generating for Julia (by then a widow) $200,000, the largest royalty check that had ever been written.